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Book of Mormon Commentary
2 Nephi Chapter 11
NEPHI DISCUSSES ISAIAH'S WORDS, VER. 1-23
2 Ne 11:5 Wherefore hearken, O my people, which are of the house of Israel, and give ear unto my
words: for because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless, they are plain unto all those
that are filled with the spirit of prophecy.
11:5 The language of Isaiah is “hard £or many of my people to understand" (2), so Nephi gave a
version of parts of his prophecies so that his people and "all those that shall receive hereafter
...may know the judgments of God" (4).
Once having become used to Isaiah, we may overlook some of the language difficulties, such as
tense. "Unto us a child is born" (9:6) is present tense, but intended for the future. In another
instance he uses the past tense £or something yet to come, "He hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows" (Isa. 53:4).
In chapters 10 and 11 the prophet speaks of deliverance from Assyrian captivity, and this is
closely followed by Israel's deliverance by the Messiah near the end of the world just before the
millennium.
2 Ne 11:8 Yea, and my soul delighteth in the words of Isaiah, for I came out from Jerusalem, and mine
eyes hath beheld the things of the Jews, and I know that the Jews do understand the things of the
prophets, and there is none other people that understand the things which were spoken unto the Jews,
like unto them, save it be that they are taught after the manner of the things of the Jews.
11:8 While expressing some confidence in the ability of Jerusalem Jews to correctly interpret the
prophets, Nephi is concerned that his own children properly interpret them, for he had not taught
his children after the manner of the Jews, (9) though he had warned them verbally concerning "the
judgments of God" (10).
2 Ne 11:12 Nevertheless, in the days that the prophecies of Isaiah shall be fulfilled, men shall know of a
surety, at the times when they shall come to pass;
11:12 Prophecy fulfilled is history. Nephi seems to be talking about hindsight, which does not
require the faith and vision of foresight. The strongest evidence that there is a spark of divinity in
Holy Writ is the fulfillment of prophecy. Modernists, however, reverse this process and determine
the time of writing the Book of Isaiah, making it subsequent to the historical events described or
alluded to. The Hebrew Epistle lays down a principle which is basic to all prophecy. "But without
faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6).
The only way men could know that Isaiah's prophecies were being fulfilled "of a surety" is that,
they should have access to these scriptures and recognize the events the prophet predicted. It
seems to be saying that there would not be a time when the words of Isaiah would be banished
from the earth, nor when men would not have some familiarity with them (14).
Further comments on the "Isaiah problem" may be found with the discussion of I Nephi 6:4, 6.
2 Ne 11:16 And never hath any of them been destroyed, save it were foretold them by the prophets of
the Lord.